Brushes and Scrolls
by SilverCaffiene
Summary: How does someone pick up the pieces left behind after Sasuke is dead, and there's nothing left but death and gore in ANBU? Sai and Naruto are ninja, and all they have left is the knowledge that they're monsters, and they're damned. SaiNaru, some SasuNaru
1. Chapter 1

"That's all. Dismissed."

The sharp voice of the Godaime Hokage were almost missed, as Naruto turned to leave. He was covered in gore, and his right arm was soaked and still dripping blood. The moonlight leeched all colour where it hit his body, making the red spiral tattoo bleed black onto a pale, grimy arm.

Naruto stumbled down the corridor to the ANBU lockers, paying no heed to the soft padding of whisper-like footsteps behind him. Reaching the grimy lockers, he ripped his open without bothering to hit the code in, using chakra to disable the seal on the locker door. The sudden chakra spike made his companion tense, but he ignored it.

The boy tore at the armour on his arm until it fell to the floor with a ceramic clunk, and ripped off the gore soaked bandages and gloves. His dented chest armour followed. Daggers from under his shirt, short blades and needles woven into the fabric of his shirt were dumped into his cleaning kit. Then he turned to his companion, and growled an almost feral growl. It was a hoarse, almost grating sound when it made it out into the static air between them.

"What do you want?"

The older ANBU operative merely shrugged, and started divesting himself of his armour. His hands weren't shaking, unlike his blond partner. He was much cleaner, too, being back up in the last mission. The hitai-ate came off, along with belts and numerous scrolls and brushes. Garrotte wire was uncoiled and placed neatly in the supplies closet.

"Are you all right?"

It was a bland question, more statement than query. It garnered no reply. The missions had been getting bloodier of late, with increased political issues occurring West of the border. More and more ANBU teams or pairs were being sent out to deal with random politicians and their families. The younger and more innocent operatives like Naruto had had to deal with much more assassinations than usual. Sai had noticed that the once exuberant young man had condensed into a colder, tired ninja.

He had used to be like that. He probably still was. No matter what the boy had said in the past before, you couldn't escape from a shinobi's responsibilities.

There was a rustle as feet shifted past discarded armoury on the floor. There was a muffled thump as a muscled back was pushed up against a cold wall. Cold hands clutched at trembling tan ones. Calloused fingers scratched at the pale wrist of an artist.

"Wha-" A muffled gasp, and Naruto's mouth was occupied once more with skilful precision. The pale faced Sai knew exactly how to silence the boy, for he himself had experienced the heart wrenching fear of post mission stress before.

--

Tanned wrists were pulled together by slim, long fingers, as a warm tongue slid out from pale lips to brush tanned skin. From the lines of a smooth, tempting neck to the tapering planes of a now bare chest. Soft moans and whispers were teased out from the blond as the ANBU played the lithe body like a string.

They were all flawed. Letting adrenaline bleed into something else entirely, letting fear turn to warm, hot sensation. But Sai knew that no matter what he did, no matter how much he yearned to paint that lithe, tanned body under him, it had already been stained by someone else. So he would settle for the next best thing. He would claim the boy's body, at a time where it could not refuse. So he tasted and touched and traced, and melded himself into the body he always wanted to claim. They were joined in body, but never in soul nor spirit, for someone else had already taken what he thought was his.

But one can never claim something one has never had.

Between gasps of shuddering breath, there was a faint whimper, and a whisper, a desperate whisper.

"S-Sa-Sasuke."

Sai paused, then continued in his ministrations. The blonde beneath him continued to whimper, but soon, all but moans where uttered, and there were no more names of distant ghosts. Sensation rode over crests of pleasure and pain, and Sai let his fingers trail up the lean torso, settling pale hands on a slender throat. His hands tightened their grip, an soon Naruto was moaning and gasping for breath all at once.

--

Sai found the sight rather erotic.

Eyes wide with panic, face and hair speckled with dried blood, and naked torso writhing under him, bruises fading rapidly as the boy struggled for air.

And soon, Naruto lost control and gave up, arching his back into him, whimpering in a hot mixture of pleasure, sensation, fear and pain.

Sai let the boy come, not saying a word, silently drinking in the sight of the broken ninja before him. Salive dripped out from bruised and chapped lips, while his torso's bruises had already started to fade into a warm sunkissed colour. The scratches on his own pale torso would not fade so fast.

Sai eased himself out, barely noting the boy's faint whimper. He leaned over, languidly licked the shell of a tanned ear, and headed for his home in the ANBU apartments.

--

Back home, he methodically took out a scroll, and arranged his brushes on his table.


	2. Chapter 2

Warning: Gay sex also present in this chapter. SasuNaru, this time. Please don't read if easily offended. This story is rated M for a reason, darlings.

---

Naruto whimpered against the dead silence of the night. Sleep was no longer restful, and he writhed about his bed in his tiny apartment in ANBU HQ.

_He was pushed up against the wall, in the locker room. A pale hand tilted his chin up. He cracked open an eye, and saw a pale face come into focus. His mission partner? That artist boy?_

"_Sa-"Sai? Who was Sai?_

"_Sasuke." A smirk from under ebony hair. "Don't tell me you can't even remember my name?"_

_Short black hair became long, a rounder softer face bled into sharper features. Nonchalent lips became less full, wider, and curved into a smirk. _

_Uchiha Sasuke pulled a short sword out of its sheath in one fluid motion. _

"_Naruto, did you miss me?"_

_Sasuke lifted the blade to Naruto's tanned throat, and carved a curving swirl down his collarbone and onto his chest, swirling over the blonde's heart. "Naruto. Did you miss me? Is that why you were being fucked by that pretty boy yesterday?"_

"_Sa-Sasuk-" Naruto's words were cut short as Sasuke pushed him down onto the grimy floor, and pinned him down with strong legs and arms._

"_Sasuke..!" The blonde ANBU gasped. _

"_Mmm? Naruto, what do you want?" The missing-nin smiled, a more genuine smile this time, and used a shuriken to slice a small cut in Naruto's lip. Then he leaned down and licked the blood, biting into the cut as it healed. _

_Then Sasuke threw the shuriken aside, and used his teeth. Biting onto Naruto's neck till skin broke, then teasing it with teeth and tongue until the boy beneath him moaned in anticipation and pain. _

_Naruto's hand rose up to clutch at Sasuke's arms, fingernails digging into the wrist till skin tore. _

"_Tch. Naruto, you shouldn't do that." Sasuke pried the calloused hand off his wrist, and bound it with Naruto's other hand with garrotte wire, then fixing it into the ground with a few well placed kunai. If Naruto's hands moved too much, his wrists would be sliced open by kunai or wire._

_--_

_Naruto could feel Sasuke's arousal pressing up against him. It was hot; far too hot in the locker room. Sasuke was playing his body like a string. The pale man was on top of him, straddling him, and cutting patterns into his torso like some demented artist would. And as each cut healed rapidly, Sasuke would trace a finger down the healing cut, drawing out a hiss of hot erotic pain. And Naruto moaned and arched his back, waiting for Sasuke to take him. _

_But Sasuke was never a kind lover. He drew every sensation out to its fullest,prolonging the erotic torture, and a smooth voice would whisper into Naruto's ear._

"_Saa, Naruto. Sing for me. Like you did for Sai yesterday?" _

_And Naruto would oblige, screaming as Sasuke cut him up and kissed him, as Sasuke claimed every contour on his torso like Sai did the day before. He would sob in a broken voice, garbled words and Sasuke's name. _

_And it was almost as though an eternity had passed, before Sasuke used a kunai to cut away his ANBU pants, and lower his head down to Naruto's hard cock. _

"_Naruto, do you miss me?"_

"_Oh god, S-Sasuke." A pause for shuddering breath, "Every day."_

_And then it was just the hot cavern of Sasuke's mouth enveloping him, stroking with rough movements, teeth scraping and lips pulling over his entire length. It wasn't long before Naruto came, spilling into Sasuke's mouth. _

_But it wouldn't end with that._

____

Naruto awoke with a harsh cry, arms straining against wire that wasn't there. He was painfully aroused, and he stumbled out of his bed and headed to the shower in his apartment without bothering to shut the bathroom door.

It's been years since Uchiha Sasuke had come back to the village, memory gone and curse seal missing, since he came and earned the trust of Uzumaki Naruto and his former teammates. Since he and Naruto became lovers. It's been three years since that night, where in midst of a languid night in Naruto's old apartment, his eyes flashed red and his chakra ran amok, when he formed a blade of chakra and cut open Naruto's chest, and used the same blade to kill himself.

Three years since Sasuke has become nothing more than a ghost. Since Naruto's heart was broken on the realisation that a curse seal couldruin the same love twice.

Naruto laid his head against the cold tile of the bathroom wall, thinking of the dream, thinking of Sai, thinking of everything that had gone wrong in ANBU. Thinking about Sakura in the hospital, workload increasing as more casualties came back from the west corner of Fire country. He thought of the mission he had in a few hours. He thought of Sai. Sai who looked so much like Sasuke it hurt. Sai who he'd been having sex with because he went berserk after every other mission. Sai who he'd grown up with after Sasuke left.

He thought of a few years ago, when he, a foolish young genin had told Sai to keep being cheerful, only to become a broken tool, like Sai said he would. Now it was Sai that kept from the edge when he got too close.

--

Sai had heard the muffled screams from the corner apartment. He'd heard Sasuke's name. He'd heard Naruto's sobs as the nightmares from recent weeks fused with old memories.

Incidents like in the locker room happened because he knew how Naruto coped. If Sai did not intervene, it would have been like last year; a half conscious Naruto half drowning in the showers because he couldn't remember who he was; who he was supposed to be. Old hints of the cheerful young boy still remained, carefully sheltered under layers of cold professional killing intent.

Soon, there was a thump on his door that sounded remarkably like a blonde head smacking against it. He smiled, a small smile that hardly anyone had seen before.

He got up soundlessly from from his bed, pulled on a long sweater, and unlocked the door, flashing chakra through the traps to disable them. A very wet, shirtless Naruto greeted him with a grunt before pushing past him and stumbling past the genkan with bare feet. Sai let out a small huff of air, before locking the door and enabling another trap.

Naruto crumpled onto the floor at the foot of Sai's bed, and waited for his mission partner to join him. Sai straightened, and padded over to where Naruto was.

"Dry your hair."

"Mmf." was the mumbled reply. Sai sighed, and padded over to his closet, pulling out an oversized sweater, dumping it on Naruto. The blonde merely grunted, then pulled it on.

"Mission is in four hours." Said the dark-haired man. "Go sleep. I'll be awake."

Naruto didn't reply, but merely clambered up to the bed and burrowed into the sheets which didn't smell like sweat and fear.

--

Sai exhaled, regarding the still dark sky outside the window. It was going to be one of those nights again. The last mission and its ensuing locker room event seemed to be a recurring theme. Every once in a while, between missions and hospital visits, Naruto would come, drenched after a shower, or shaking after a nightmare, and sleep in his apartment.

And if that was all he could get of the young blonde who'd slightly shifted his perception of life, then so be it. He knew he looked like that traitor. Pale body and dark hair. But he would never cut open Naruto's chest. Sai looked over to the prone ball of ninja on his bed, and did what he had been doing for the past few weeks. He got out his sketchbook, the one he scribbled in to pass the time when he couldn't concentrate, and drew.

He drew mindlessly, charcoal skating over invisible guidelines as muscle memory guided him over contours and arcs of slate. And before he knew it, he was absorbed in the lines and curves, filling in shadows and varying the lines. It was a picture of a young man, curled into a ball, sleeping.

Sai lifted his eyes from the paper to the nondescript clock on the wall. 0719 hours. Setting his artwork image side down onto the desk, he rose, all feline grace and fluid motion, and padded over to the sleeping Naruto.

"Naruto." He placed a hand on the boy's shoulder. "It's time to get going. The briefing is in ten minutes."

Naruto jerked awake, reflex driving his hand snap up and grab Sai's wrist and pull him down, as the other hand pulled a kunai to the pale neck. Dilated pupils darted about, wary and shocky.

"Naruto." Sai's voice was low; calm. A pale hand rested on Naruto's chest, where it had once been laid open by another.

"Sai?" A hoarse whisper, "That was all a dream, right?"

"Yes."

A sigh, then a determined nod. Naruto climbed out of bed and stumbled out of the door, disabling the trap Sai set up with familiar ease. Sai watched the door snap closed, and started undressing and armouring himself in the familiar routine one soon mastered after joining ANBU. Pants, skin tight shirt and gloves, followed by hidden blades and needles, poison vials and small scrolls hidden neatly into cloth. Bandages to secure the gloves, and around the thigh and shins. Weapons holsters. Arm gaurds. After checking all his weapons a third time, Sai strapped on the short sword to his back, pulled on his ceramic mask, and left for Naruto's apartment.

In less than 30 seconds after he reached Naruto's door down the corridor, the boy exited his apartment, full gear and mask tilted to the side , exposing his face.

"Where're the mission details, again?" the blonde agent asked.

Sai soundlessly handed a piece of much-folded paper to Naruto.

--

_Mission Assignment 29012794_

_Mission Rank : S_

_Agents Assigned: ANBU Intel agent Sai, ANBU Hunter Uzumaki Naruto_

_Mission Details: Travel southwest of the Border and track down Konoha jounin and traitor Hanakaza Shibo. Hanakaza has been suspected of stealing medical information and documents and giving them to correspondents from Iwagakure. The meeting point for the transaction is at the Blue Lotus, in the city of Hainan, at 1250 hours. Extract all information given to Iwagakure, and retrieve the stolen documents. _

_Mission Hazards: Hanakaza is a Jounin and is known to possess several high level lightning jutsu. A three-man cell of Iwa Jounin may also be present._

_--_

Naruto groaned.

"Oh great. I _hate _Iwa nin."

--

--

Author's Griping:

Oh my god. . I have no idea what happened. Critique, because for the life of me, I do not know what possessed me to write this. Naruto is _supposed_ to be this broken, so dear Happy!Naruto fans, please don't fret. Our dear blonde has been stepped on and smeared across the floor by Sasuke, so cut him a lil' slack. Top that off with ANBU missions, and you're wondering why he's not singing happy songs of Ramen?

But don't be sad – The point of this story was that Naruto is currently in ANBU, damn good at what he does, also getting depressed and demented for his troubles, and Sasuke is no more than a ghost in Naruto's memory. And with so many people dead around him, what exactly is Naruto supposed to do?

About one or two chapters left. I don't think I have enough material to make this fic multi-chaptered. Just conclude Naruto and Sai's fates, and tralala.

Let me know what you think, though!


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